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Alpharetta is a city and a suburb of Atlanta located in Fulton County, Georgia. In the 1830s, the Cherokee people in Georgia were relocated to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Pioneers then settled on the newly vacant land, along a former Cherokee trail running from the North Georgia mountains to the Chattahoochee. One of the first landmarks in the area was the New Prospect Camp Ground, located beside a natural spring near the current downtown of Alpharetta. In following years it became a trading post for settlers. Known as the town of Milton until July of 1858, the city of Alpharetta was chartered on December 11, 1858, with boundaries extending in a half mile from the city courthouse. In 1931 Milton County was merged with Fulton County to avoid bankruptcy during the Great Depression. The city's name is a variation of a fictional Indian woman from a 19th-century song, "The Blue Juniata". The name of the city is supposed to be related to the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Alpha.